Guy Pearce has signed to star in Australian production Blood And Guts, the directing debut of Scott Roberts, which is set to start shooting in Melbourne on July 30, 2001.

The film will mark the second time that Pearce has worked with producer Al Clark, following The Adventures Of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert in 1993. Clark bills Blood And Guts as a jet-black comedy about how sex and greed come between bad cops and three brothers in jail, with fatal consequences.

The board of the Australian Film Finance Corporation approved investment in the film in October with Roadshow attached as local distributor and Alibi Films International handling worldwide sales. Alibi's Gareth Jones and Hilary Davis are the executive producers.

Pearce is currently shooting Dreamworks' The Time Machine in the US.